I would like to start off our lessons together with an examination of two critical sets of scales. Again and again, I will be referring to and building upon these scales for a vast range of lessons in all different styles and genres, and they will also be extremely useful and powerful tools for you to open up your playing across the entire length of the fret board.

This lesson is really a natural extension of the previous lesson on 9th chord slides. The "Memphis” lick, which takes it's name from the Chuck Berry tune of the same name, is based primarily on these 9th chord positions.

We all know how useful the “5th fret is equal to the next open string” thing is, but what about the open string being equal to the next string at the 7th fret? Well, that’s what this lesson is all about; those cool octaves that can be created in this way.

The Harmony Shuffle requires quite a bit more left-hand dexterity and coordination to accomplish over ordinary shuffles, but once you master them they become a great tool. I have long been a fan of these types of positions, and you will find them to be quite invaluable in many applications as well.

This is a classic variation on the kind of Blues guitar and bass unison lines that became so popular as the result of the great Chicago blues players. I’ve personally been playing this lick for years, even recording “Treat Her Right” on my second LP, Hot Pickups. If you listen carefully to the original recording by Roy Head and The Traits there are actually two guitars playing on this part. We’re going to be playing it as one part, homogenized together.